Finding Answers To Your WordPress Problems

Using WordPress is a smart choice for anyone who is looking to build a web presence. One of it’s best “selling” points is that it is free. Their .com site will even provide hosting for you. There is one downside to this though – there is no one to call when something goes wrong. For the most part you are on your own. It is usually up to you to fix your own problem, but luckily there is some help out there:

1. WordPress.com/WordPress.org Forums: Whether you host your own site or use the .com service, both instances have an online forum. This is probably the first place you should look for any issues you are having. If something is wrong with your WordPress site there is a good chance that someone else has dealt with it.

Before you make a post asking your question, do a search on the forums and you might find a thread with your answer. If you can’t find an answer that addresses your issue, then you can make your own thread dealing with it. Titling and tagging your post properly will be a huge help in getting the answer you need. Make sure you describe your issue in detail, including your website URL never hurts.

2. Paid Theme Support: This is only helpful if you have paid for a WordPress theme. Most of these premium WordPress themes will have their own support. If you come across an issue, this should be the first place you look. Either email your theme provider or use their support forum (they should have one). The reason this should be your first stop is that there will be people there that know specific issues with your theme. The WordPress.org forums won’t have access to certain details about your theme.

It will also be hard to find support elsewhere, because paid theme providers make sure that theme specific support info is only shared by them. This ensures people aren’t just stealing their theme.

3. Google: Google is your friend. Just today a friend of mine upgraded to WP 3.0 and had an issue. His admin panel was all of a sudden full of error messages. We had no idea what to do, and no idea what the error meant. I simply took as much of the error code that wasn’t specific to his site and Googled it. I got a couple different results but the fixes didn’t work. I then Googled the error code with the name of his theme, and instantly got the fix from a blog. It was as simple as changing a tiny piece of code. Google is the world’s leading search provider for a reason – it works.

By using the above methods you can probably address just about any problem you come across. The toughest part of fixing your problems is properly explaining them and only with practice will you get better. The more times you use a support forum means the better you will be at using it. The same goes for Google, once you have spent some time hunting down answers you will get a knack for stringing together the right search terms. Good luck, and I hope you find the answer to all your probelms quickly and painlessly.